Bruno Maranhão, founder of the Workers' Party in Pernambuco, dies.
The wake is being held in the city of Paulista, near the capital, Recife. The son of a traditional family of sugar mill owners, his life was marked by unusual stories and activism in the Brazilian left.
By Hylda Cavalcanti, from Current Brazil Network
Brasilia – The body of mechanical engineer and politician Bruno Maranhão, one of the founders of the PT in that state, is being laid to rest in the municipality of Paulista, in Pernambuco. Since last Wednesday, Maranhão, who had been recovering for two years from a cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), presented a picture of multiple organ failure and survived with the help of machines. He died in the early evening of yesterday (25), at Hospital Memorial São José, in Recife.
At 74 years old, Bruno Albuquerque Maranhão had a life trajectory marked by unusual stories. He used to be called a "sugar mill owner with the spirit of a poor man" by members of the communities he frequented and the "black sheep of the family." Son of a traditional family of sugar mill owners from Pernambuco, he was always linked to the left, having even participated in bank robberies to finance the resistance against the dictatorship. He was also one of the founders of the Revolutionary Brazilian Communist Party (PCBR), which he led – a party that had 12 members killed and disappeared during the military regime.
One of the most nationally discussed episodes involving him occurred in 2006, when he was accused of promoting the invasion of the National Congress by militants of the Landless Workers' Liberation Movement (MLST). During the incident, glass windows were broken and several people had to be treated for injuries. Around 200 MLST demonstrators were arrested for the invasion, along with Bruno, who was not actually present during the aggression and argued that he went down to the scene to quell the demonstrators' anger. As a result of the incident, he was detained for 39 days in the Papuda Penitentiary Complex in the Federal District.
A few years ago, in an interview with Piauí magazine, Maranhão stated that although his years of political activism had not diminished his stature and mannerisms as a sugar mill owner – inherited from both sides of his family (his father and mother descended from different branches of sugarcane mill owners considered the "Pernambuco nobility") – he had always been concerned with the struggle of the workers. "I'm from the big house and the black tarp of the encampments, that's my contradiction," he declared, adding: "Since I was a boy, I lived with the children of the mill workers. I didn't quite understand why they didn't have what I could have."